Vegetable Dum Biryani

With recipe!
What is Dum Biryani?
Dum Biryani is a one-pot dish of aromatic spices and delightful flavours - a result from slow cooking the ingredients in a sealed, heavy bottomed vessel for hours or even overnight in certain cases. Biryani is often served with raita, a loose youghurt with onions and cilantro! This version of Vegetable Dim Biryani is easier and a home cook friendly one :)
The vegetables can be easily switched with mutton or even chicken pieces!

Ingredients:
4 onions.
1 and a half cup basmati rice.
Saffron* not req
6 beans, 2 carrots, cauliflower, peas, corn, 2 tomatoes, garlic pods.
Green chillies.
Star anise, cardamom pods, cinnamon bark, cloves, black peppercorns, bay leaves.
Ghee*
Ginger garlic paste.
Turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala, cumin powder.
Fresh mint leaves and coriander leaves.
Milk.

Prep: 
-chop 2 onions into slices and add into a pan with a lot of oil.
-brown the onions perfectly (not too dark) and drain out the remaining oil.
-soak 1 and a 1/2 cup of basmati rice in some water after washing. (15 mins)
-stir in some saffron to a half cup of milk.
-chop 6 beans, 2 carrots, 10-14 florets of cauliflower into chunky pieces and keep aside.
-soak 1/2 cup peas and 1/4 cup corn in some water.
-make a rough paste of 2 tomatoes.
-chop 2 more onions into slices and set aside.

Note:
-make sure the onions are a nice shade of brown and NOT BURNT.
-add in enough oil to the onions so they fry off well and use the oil for later on.
-do not add too many spices and ruin the balance.
-the rice to masala ratio should be 1:1.
-do not cook the veggies and the rice too much, they should be semi cooked.
-make sure the veggies are moist and have a very small amount of water before adding the rice.

Method:
To 4 cups of boiling water add 4-5 pods of elaichi,
4 cloves, 1 stick of cinnamon, some black pepper corns, 2 bay leaves, 2 green chillies slitted open, salt and 1 star anise along with the strained rice.
-keep a check on the rice. They should only be semi cooked. Once they're done, strain off the spices and then the rice seperately.
-add 1 tablespoon of ghee and lightly stir the rice and set aside.
-take a large large pan enough to make dum Biryani and add 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 teaspoon of onion oil.
-add a tablespoon of cumin, the chopped onions, 2 green chillies slitted open, 3-4 pods of elaichi, 1 stick of cinnamon, 2 bay leaves and 2 teaspoons of ginger garlic paste. Toast it a little bit.
-add in the tomato paste, 1/4 tablespoon of turmeric powder, 2 teaspoon of coriander powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder, 2 and 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder and salt. Cook the tomatoes well.
-add in all the carrots, beans and cauliflower to the dish. Add some salt. After a short while, add in the peas and corn too. Adding spritzes of water here and there, stir the veggies. Cover the dish and simmer until semi cooked (with a nice crunch to them)
--add chopped coriander leaves to the mixture and stir. Check for salt.
-remove half of the veggies into another dish.
-level the veggies into the dish into a nice flat layer.
-sprinkle very few coriander leaves and bring in a layer of the rice (1/2 of all the cooked rice) over the vegetables.
-sprinkle half of the fried onions, quite a few of the fresh mint leaves, 1 teaspoon of garam masala, 1 teaspoon of chilli powder, half of the remaining oil and half of the saffron milk equally over the rice.
-add another layer of the veggies and sprinkle coriander leaves.
-another layer of rice, over which sprinkle fried onions, mint leaves, garam masala, red chilli powder, onion oil and saffron milk.
-lift up the dish and place it onto a flat tava to equally distribute the heat.
-give dum to Biryani by sealing it tight with a lid and some atta for roughly half an hour over a simmer.
-while serving spoon from one corner a little rice and then scoop all the layers together not mashing the veggies and rice.